On a third-and-1, Osweiler pitched the ball to Anderson, who ran to the left side as tight end Vernon Davis, tackle Ryan Harris and center Matt Paradis cleared a hole in the line for him to break through and sprint up the sideline for the score.

“Brock changed it,” Anderson said. “‘I said, ‘Man, this has a chance.’ And as I got a toss and I just saw Ryan (Harris) deep for me, and I thought if he can get to the hole, I better be able to get to the hole. You just got to get it to the big boys up front, they pretty much create the play and got me a chance to get on the safeties and make them miss, and the next thing you know is history.”

The play was one the Broncos had practiced all week before Sunday’s game.

“We were trying to run the ball (to the) weak (side),” Osweiler said. “They gave us a specific defensive front that we can’t run that ball into, so I checked to our second play that we called in our huddle. The line did a (heck) of a job and C.J. did the rest.”

Brock Osweiler will make his first NFL start Sunday, on his 25th birthday no less. He will be the leader of an offense that, for the last three-plus years, has been led by a five-time MVP and future hall of famer.

Not that big of a deal.

But this is by no means the first big game of Osweiler’s career.

Let’s go back to 2008, when the cross-Kalispell, Mont., rivals, Glacier High and Flathead High, met in a basketball showdown. Osweiler, a 6-foot-7 junior, was a star big man for Flathead.

If you’ll recall, Osweiler, a two-sport athlete, had already verbally committed to play basketball at Gonzaga. But Osweiler decided to give up hoops his junior year and focus solely on football, which would lead him to Arizona State and then to the Denver Broncos, as a second-round pick in 2012.

The Broncos will unveil a new toy at Sports Authority Field on Sunday when they host the Vikings in a Week 4 matchup.

The Broncos Bud Light Twitter Vending Machine, the first of its kind in the NFL, will be introduced to the thousands of fans who pass through the halls of the stadium.

The machine instructs users to Tweet at Bud Light (@BudLight) and provides a unique three-digit hashtag code. Once the tweet is sent, the machine will dispense a prize, which will not be beer, but could be something pretty close.

Brady, who has insisted he played no role in the Deflategate scandal, thanked his family, friends and fans for supporting him, but said he was “sorry our league had to endure this” and that “to a large degree, we have all lost.”

His full post:

“The regular season starts tomorrow morning and I can’t wait to fully commit my energy and emotion to focus on the challenges of the 2015 NFL season. I want to thank my family, my friends, all of the fans, past and current players and my teammates for the support they have given me throughout this challenging experience. I also want to thank Judge Berman and his staff for their efforts to resolve this matter over the past five weeks. I am very grateful. My thanks also to the union’s legal team who has fought so hard right along with me. While I am pleased to be eligible to play, I am sorry our league had to endure this. I don’t think it has been good for our sport — to a large degree, we have all lost. I am also sorry to anyone whose feelings I may have hurt as I have tried to work to resolve this situation. I love the NFL. It is a privilege to be a member of the NFL community and I will always try to do my best in representing my team and the league in a way that would make all members of this community proud. I look forward to the competition on the playing field and I hope the attention of NFL fans can return to where it belongs – on the many great players and coaches who work so hard every week, and sacrifice so much, to make this game great. Most importantly, I look forward to representing the New England Patriots on Thursday night in our season opener. I hope to make all of our fans proud this year … and beyond!”

“Trevor has had a really good camp. He’s a bright guy, he’s improved. He wasn’t healthy when he got here because he was coming off a knee injury. So he wasn’t able to do a lot in his first month, but as he gotten healthy and was able to get out on the field and get the reps. It really paid dividends for him. He got more comfortable and just played well throughout camp.

“I don’t know if you noticed, but all of the rookies got their heads shaved by our “senior committee”. It’s kind of a defensive thing—that’s the one time they’re allowed to cross over the ball. Ty (Sambrailo) had long hair when he got here and they cut our left tackles hair. But, for three years in a row now I have spared the QB’s. I spared Brock (Osweiler), I spared (Zac) Dysert and I spared Trevor. But I told Trevor, ‘Just because I spared you from getting your head shaved doesn’t mean … you still need a hair cut.’ He’s got a bad haircut. It’s borderline mullet at this point.

“So I said: ‘Don’t take advantage of my generosity … get a hair cut. Represent the QBs. Look sharp.’ He hasn’t done it yet.Read more…

Broncos linebacker Von Miller said he was taught “to make the play.” (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

The NFL said Terrell Suggs’ hit on Eagles quarterback Sam Bradford on Saturday was legal, and that the game’s officials erred in flagging Suggs for a roughing penalty.

But the ruling did little to quell the firestorm over the hit.

To some, the hit was late and unnecessary, especially considering Bradford is recovering from knee surgery and the game was a preseason matchup.

To others, the league’s ruling offered enough validation.

On the Eagles’ sixth snap of their preseason game with the Ravens, Bradford handed the ball off to Darren Sproles. Suggs then sprinted in to hit the quarterback at his knees after the handoff.

The NFL’s vice president of officiating, Dean Blandino, said the hit was not a foul.

“If the quarterback has an option, he’s considered a runner until he either clearly doesn’t have the football or he re-establishes himself as a passer,” Blandino said during an appearance on NFL Network on Monday. “So it’s not a foul by rule. It’s something that we’ll make sure that we cover with our game officials because the defensive end coming off the edge, he doesn’t know if the quarterback is going to keep it, he doesn’t know if he’s going to take off and run or drop back and so we treat the quarterback in that instance as a runner until he clearly re-establishes as a passer or until he clearly doesn’t have the football.”

After the first of two joint practices with the 49ers on Wednesday, Broncos linebacker Von Miller was asked where he stood on the issue.

“Suggs is a vet. Nobody plays the game like Suggs,” Miller said. “He plays the game aggressively, and that’s the type of guy that you want on your team. If you’re going against him, it’ll be tough.

“I agree with whatever Suggs did.”

Miller, who ranked sixth in the league last season with 14.0 sacks, said he’s of one mindset when he’s across the line from a quarterback.

“I’m taught to make the play,” he said. “I try to make the play. You’ve got to have quick eyes to be able to see who has the ball and who doesn’t. Sometimes you can’t, but I’ve got the cock-eyed vision — one eye there and the other eye over here.”

There’s a popular belief that the backup quarterback position is the best job in sports. You get paid a good salary to listen in meetings and hold a clipboard on game day. And you can’t get hit if you don’t play.

But for Brock Osweiler, who has held that job for the last three seasons, there is at least one better job: starting quarterback.

“If you come in this league and you’re comfortable with being a backup, something’s wrong,” Osweiler said after Thursday’s mini camp practice. “I’ve always had visions of being a starting quarterback. That’s why I come to work every day.”

Osweiler likely won’t see much playing time this season if Peyton Manning remains healthy, but that’s not stopping him from taking advantage of the extra snaps he’s receiving in organized team activities.

“I’m not going to lie — I really don’t mind him taking his little half days and going over to the weight room while I’m on the field,” he said. “Getting all these extra reps have benefited my game.”Read more…

“I think about 90 percent that they have moved on in their own minds except that they really don’t know who they’re going to get when Johnny leaves rehab, which has been an extended stay — a two-month stay,” Mortensen said. “He should be getting out sometime in the first week of April if they’re satisfied that he’s ready to go out and get into society and that whatever deep-rooted problems that he had has been addressed.

“The bottom line is that Johnny Manziel’s future with the Browns has been in question. When they were putting together half of a new offensive staff, Manziel’s name barely even came up in conversation.”

On Tuesday, while a guest on The Sports Show, Ward was asked about Manziel and his former team. Ward’s response:

The Seahawks and Patriots face off in Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. (Timothy A. Clary, AFP, Getty Images)

A roundup of intriguing headlines, photos, Tweets and more in advance of Super Bowl XLIX, between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots in Glendale, Ariz. (4:30 p.m. MT):

This could be the worst Super Bowl ever
On Sunday, the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will be among the most talented teams to take the field in the Super Bowl. But great-seeming matchups didn’t translate into great Super Bowls. (FiveThirtyEight)

Seahawks offer Marshawn Lynch huge contract extension
The deal is believed to include more than $10 million for Lynch in the 2015 season alone. Lynch currently is slated to make $5 million in 2015, the final year of what originally was a four-year, $31 million deal. (NFL.com)

Why Super Bowl repeats are so rare
Half of the past eight Super Bowl champions failed to even make the playoffs the next season, and the last to even win a single playoff game was the 2005 Patriots. (ESPN)

Six plays that will swing the Super Bowl
What will decide Sunday’s Super Bowl is a handful of specific plays and schemes that each team has come to rely on—and whether the opposing team can stop them. (The Wall Street Journal)

When: 4:30 p.m. Sunday vs. the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.

What’s up: Brady is under suspicion of having one of his ball boys deflate the game balls below required specifications before the Patriots’ AFC championship game two weeks ago against the Indianapolis Colts. The Pats won 45-7. In the first half, when the balls were deflated, Brady completed 11-of-21 passes while posting a 60.6 rating. New England was up 17-7 at halftime. After the balls were filled to regulation at halftime, Brady in the second half went 12-of-14 with a 145.2 rating. The Pats outscored the Colts, 28-0 in the second half.

In Philip Rivers’ 10-plus seasons in the NFL, he has thrown a total of 238 touchdowns to sit at No. 21 on the all-time list. After 10 seasons, Peyton Manning had thrown 306.

Through Sunday, Rivers is fourth in the league this season with 17 through the Chargers’ first six games. Manning is No. 1, with 19 through five games.

In 2008, Rivers tied Drew Brees with a league-best 34 touchdowns, but he has never cracked 40 a season. Manning has topped 40 twice, including a record 55 last year.

On Sunday, Rivers was among the millions who watched Manning throw touchdown Nos. 509 and 510 against the 49ers to eclipse Brett Favre on the all-time list. And like those millions of others watching, Rivers, too, was in awe.

“That’s a lot of touchdowns,” Rivers said Thursday. “It’s awesome. It’s an awesome accomplishment. I think the first thing you think of is how many that is, but then what do you have to do to get that many. Obviously you have to play at an unbelievable level and average however many a year for so many years.

“He had such a streak going of not missing many starts. I know he missed a whole season, but there was a stretch from his first game his rookie year where he made every start. So, consistently he was out there playing for his team, and then obviously playing very, very well.

“It’s an unbelievable feat, and it was kinda cool to watch.”

Saints quarterback Drew Brees currently has the second most touchdown passes of any active player (374) to sit at No. 4 on the all-time list, while the Patriots’ Tom Brady is a close No. 5, with 372.

When asked if he ever thinks about hitting the 500 mark, of if he envisions another quarterback from this era coming close, Rivers remained realistic.Read more…

This was supposed to be a make-or-break year for Rams quarterback Sam Bradford, but he couldn’t make it past the opening drive of Saturday’s preseason game against the Browns to see it through.

With a little more than eight minutes left in the first quarter, Bradford was hit by Armonty Bryant and after attempting to get up, quickly fell to the ground, writhing in pain. He later limped off the field on his own power, and initial tests on the knee led him to believe that he did not sustain any ligament damage. But Bradford, who was making his second preseason start since tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament last October, was of concern to Rams officials.

In this latest commercial from Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, he is a gas station manager, with a 1970s getup and all. And he’s a gas station manager who refuses to sell Gatorade to customers unless they’re sweating, even if that customer just celebrated her birthday and needs to replenish after a “fun” night out.

“I came to see Derek play,” Manning told ESPN.com. “Derek and I have been friends — he’s a couple years older than me, but we’ve been pretty much professionals at the same time. So I wanted to pay my respects and see him play for the last time.”

Fans arrive for the NFL Super Bowl XLVIII football game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos at MetLife Stadium Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Seth Wenig, The Associated Press)

Good afternoon, Broncos fans. IT WAS 5,481 FULL DAYS AGOthat the Denver Broncos were last here at this moment. We’re inside Metlife Stadium, where we bring you a special Super Bowl edition of the Broncos Insider Newsletter:

IN PRINT: SUPER BOWL SPECIAL SECTION: “WITHIN REACH: Peyton Manning has put together a season for the ages, shattering records in leading the highest scoring offense in NFL history. A victory Sunday in the Super Bowl can forever cement his legacy among the all-time greats.” SEE THE PAGE: http://dpo.st/1k0W2Ts

Denver Post Sunday 1A: CHAMP IN WAITING: “They call him Champ. The Broncos cornerback exudes all of the virtues of what fans desire in a champion,” writes The Denver Post’s Benjamin Hochman. “He’s cool by not acting cool. He has this aura around him, but not because he’s a self-proclaimed stud. It’s because he’s revered in football circles. It’s because he speaks softly, yet with resonance. It’s because he’s actually so humble, it’s hard to believe that someone with his talent isn’t shouting about it.

The front page of the Sunday, Dec. 2, 2014, edition of The Denver Post.

“Really, the only problem with the nickname Champ is that he’s not a champ. But, after 15 seasons in the NFL, this sure Pro Football Hall of Famer finally will play in the Super Bowl.

XLVIII (48) REASONS THE BRONCOS WILL WIN, according to Denver Post columnist Woody Paige. Among them: “V. The Broncos were penalized 183 fewer yards than Seattle in the regular season. … X. Adam Gase is creatively superior to Seahawks offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell. Jack Del Rio has won a Super Bowl as a coach; Seattle defensive coordinator Dan Quinn hasn’t coached in one. … XXI. The Seahawks averaged only 23 points a game away from Seattle; the Broncos averaged 36.2 points in road games. … XL. With more than seven days to prepare, the Broncos are 6-0 this season.” Plus, Woody’s score prediction: http://dpo.st/LnfI4E

“THIS IS WHY FOOTBALL PLAYERS CRY. The Broncos arrived at the Super Bowl as a family: 53 players, one goal,” writes Denver Post columnist Mark Kiszla … win or lose, when Super Bowl XLVIII is done, this family will break up. This is one last chance for this specific group of Broncos to hoist the Lombardi Trophy and grab a little piece of football immortality. […]

“The significance of my Super Bowl rings is what those rings stand for. They stand for guys putting aside their egos and their personal agendas long enough to win a championship,” said Byron Chamberlain, who won two championships during his stint from 1995-2000 as a tight end for Denver. “The most important thing for a championship team is to get all the guys to buy into one common goal of winning the Super Bowl. It’s hard to do. That’s why winning a Super Bowl is so rare.”

GAME DAY FORECAST: Sunday for East Rutherford, N.J., site of MetLife Stadium … A slight chance of showers after 11 a.m. Patchy fog before 8 a.m. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. West wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20 percent, according to the National Weather Service. … Sunday night: A slight chance of rain before 10 p.m., then a slight chance of rain and sleet between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., then a chance of rain and snow after 1 a.m. Cloudy, with a low around 31. North wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40 percent: http://1.usa.gov/1eIieKB … Per The Weather Channel, 6 p.m. will be cloud, temperature at 43 degrees (feels like 40), 20 percent chance of precipitiation, winds WNW at 5 mph.

Yes, yes, yes, until they prove us otherwise. The Broncos shorthanded offensive line allowed just 20 sacks in 16 games this season, fewest in the NFL. (The next fewest allowed was by the Lions, who allowed 23, the next fewest by a playoff team, the Bengals with 29.) In addition, the Broncos allowed just 51 quarterback hits, second-fewest behind the Bengals, who had 47.

There’s no bigger sample size, really, and even an improved pass rush shouldn’t be able to do too much against Peyton Manning’s line. Last time the two teams played, Manning didn’t take a sack, and though the Chargers’ pass rush has looked better, it’s really just been over the past two games.

Von Miller is taken off the field in Houston after injuring his knee. (The Associated Press)

The final injury tally is in, and the NFL recorded 61 ACL tears during training camp, the preseason and regular season of 2013. According to STATS, a total of 2,589 players appeared in at least one preseason or regular-season NFL game this year, meaning that 2.4 percent of players were carted off with such a knee injury.

Peyton Manning talks to Wes Welker, Eric Decker and Jacob Tamme in the second half against the Texans Sunday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

The NFL and the Broncos announced Thursday that quarterback Peyton Manning has been named the AFC Offensive Player of the Month for December. It’s the eighth time he’s been honored as such in his career, the fourth time as a Bronco and the second time in 2013. He also earned the honors for September.

Manning and the Broncos went 4-1 in December, locking up the No. 1 seed in the AFC. Manning also set numerous records in December: single-season TD, single-season passing yardage, single-season scoring by a team.

Peyton Manning talks to Wes Welker, Eric Decker and Jacob Tamme in the second half against the Texans Sunday. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

With 6:57 remaining in Sunday’s game in Houston, Peyton Manning threw a touchdown pass to receiver Eric Decker, the quarterback’s 50th of 2013. (He threw one more on the afternoon, ending the day with 51, a new NFL record.) The pass, initially ruled a catch, was reviewed, and upon review, officials upheld the initial ruling.

Five days later, though, Texans interim head coach Wade Phillips says otherwise. Phillips told Houston media Friday that he asked the NFL for clarification on the catch after the fact, and the league told him that upon further review, Decker’s reception shouldn’t have been ruled a catch because he was juggling the ball.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.